Teachers Are People Too!

WARNING: THIS HAS TURNED FROM A BLOG CHALLENGE ENTRY INTO A RANT. SORRY ABOUT THAT! HOW ABOUT I DO THE BLOG CHALLENGE SEPARATELY? OK, THAT'S WHAT I'LL DO.

It's another #kinderchat blog challenge! And I am up for it! Especially since it's about my favourite topic- ME! OK, just kidding, just kidding! I do think this is such an important topic for teachers- who are we? What is our story? We spend so much of our time telling our students stories, telling the stories of the day in the classroom, because teaching is such an all-encompassing profession.  It's time others knew about the Real Lives of Teachers!

Just this past month, in Hollywood, there was a big photo-leak scandal that affected the lives of 100 or more actresses (someone broke into their iCloud accounts and leaked their photo's - many nudes- online). It got me thinking about what would happen if, instead of actresses, these hacked accounts were teachers? I think, in many cases, those teachers would not only lose their jobs, but they would have no careers. Why? Because of the old prejudices about teacher's behaviour's. There are plenty of stories to back up my assumption here (I am thinking of one in particular of a jr. high school teacher who posed for Playboy before she was a teacher and was fired when her school board found out about it).
I have been out for dinner, or have been seen coming out of the liquor store and had parents side-eye me- because heaven forbid, a Kindergarten teacher, who is obviously of legal age might purchase an alcoholic beverage (one teacher I know was actually sent a note on Monday asking her if she enjoyed her 12 pack!).
Those are just 2 examples. How many of us have had the "how's Johnny doing" conversation in the most unexpected places? My friend was in a terrible accident. As she was being rushed into X-Ray at the local hospital to see if she had severed her spinal chord (no I am not joking), one of the X-Ray techs asked if she was a teacher at our school. She said yes, and the tech actually asked if she knew if her son would be in my friends class in the fall! And when she went in a week later for a follow up E-Ray, was asked if she knew again! This same friend was on the phone calling for a sub that night- because ONLY TEACHERS have to do this stuff! Here she is, in the emergency room on a stretcher calling for a sub. Another teacher friend thought she was having a heart attack and called for a sub from the emergency room. We can't even get sick or have accidents without worrying about our class and students. This is who teachers are! This is what we do!
Our school calendar has been shifted a bit to accommodate family lives better. Which is great, except it doesn't help families of teachers! We can't take the day off after a holiday because we aren't allowed to extend our vacation time. Yes, we have "summers off" and "Christmas off" and "Spring/March break", but we don't get paid for them. And my children don't go to college/university in the summer. So, in order to get them home for holidays, or watch them graduate, I am forced to do so without pay, take them back early, or not see them graduate.
So, yes, I am looking forward to reading about these real people we call teachers. Real people with real lives and real stories that I know will inspire us. October is always such a great month, now it will be even better!